Findings
Just found another item I had thought was lost. A nice gift from a friend. A little worse for the wear, it is, but O Well, what can I do about it? Dwelling on it can only drive me crazy (er).
So, in finding things that I've lost, I see that:
Things are not always found where I expect them to be. At all.
The message from the universe has been to get my personal life more organized/neater. (I told my friends this earlier this week.)
I guess I just have to keep neatening up /straightening up / redding up until I find everything that's misplaced /displaced.
Labels: art, career, cleaning, gift, honor, jewelry, list, love, mystery, niece and nephew, organizing, patient, philosophical, photos, safety
The Ten-Year Plan...
I can't believe that it's been TEN years already since Y2K!" I exclaimed to my seat mates at the table at tea this afternoon, at the beginning of the afternoon.
Stephanie stated at the completion of the meal that she remembered talking to a job coach approximately ten years ago about her personal and professional goals and plans. And here she is, fulfilling them.
I need to make a list to see how I am meeting my objectives (perhaps). Maybe I don't need goals like Karina's: the man, the dog, the house. Maybe I just need objectives: Vehicles for me to get out and to circulate more, to broaden my horizons. As I go about meeting my objectives, I will enjoy life and meet more people.
There's MY plan.
Labels: career, energy, family, friends, list, love, meeting, music, voice, Wellesley, work
Graham Clan Reunion: SSSA National Meetings
Met up last night with the Graham clan at August Henry's for dinner. Spotted April and Debbie first, met Doug, saw Bob, Tanya, Tom R. from CP-SLO, Rosemary, and Brian; sat next to Ron T. from SLO and across from April and Debbie for dinner. I had a Pittsburgh steak salad for dinner.
The three girls headed to salsa and drinks after dinner---I danced thrice after speaking with Bobby, the DJ. Tanya, Sylvie, and Brad met up with us.
A fun night that ended with my two former labmates walking me to the bus stop.
~~~~
Met up with April at the bus stop downtown for a tour of the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Music Hall, and Carnegie Library Main, and Carnegie Mellon University. We saw the Cathedral of Learning, the outside of Heinz Chapel, Carnegie Music Hall, the Carnegie Library (said hi to Lisa R. there), and took the bus to Carnegie Mellon University, 
where we stopped at Entropy, the Randy Pausch bridge, the Gates building, the School of Fine Arts, and other places.
We met up with Debbie and Susan for dinner at Sonoma Grill. I enjoyed the crab cakes and fettucine. We headed to a bar, Seviche, for drinks afterwards, and saw Tanya, Brad, Paul, and a fellow from Alaska, too. My two former lab mates walked me to my bus stop before bidding me adieu.
Labels: career, Carnegie, dining, friends, meeting, museum, photos, Pittsburgh, soils, visitor
Pool Exercises, Free Sandwiches, St. Anthony
After donning an OpSite (TM) sticker on my small but pernicious? tiny scab, I did pool exercises (after my land exercises) for the first time before my second total hip replacement:
walking (10 minutes)
side stepping (5 minutes)
~ronde de jambes en l'air: i.e., "front, side, back" 20 reps/side
and, finally,
"Stretch that neck" by submersing in the water, putting my arm behind my back, and stretching my neck in the opposite direction. This is to counteract effects of using a cane on my shoulder.
I picked up Karina, and we bought sodas to get free bacon, cheddar, and roast beef Wednesday specials. We sat at the library, read women's and travel magazines, picked out books and ran into Jim B., my former boss, on the way to the car.
Went home to look for some misplaced/lost items (noticed this morning). Boy, oh boy, time to pray to Ss. Anthony and Jude for lost items. Found the documents I need to replace the lost documents, but it sure would be nice to find my lost items.
~~~~~~~~
Dinner was at William's family's home. I took photos of the children before they ate their dinner, but while they were seated in their high chairs. We had capelli d'angelo with sauce, chicken, fish, mixed veggies, milk, and raspberry-banana cake. Beatrice kept asking to be carried upstairs by me.."Not yet, Beata. Not today. Later."
Labels: BAD, career, Carnegie, dine, dining, exercise, friends, health, library, niece and nephew, pain, prayer, water exercise
Wellesley Alumnae Event, Fall 2008
After work Nancy C. and I went to Vic's restaurant for dinner. I had the chicken biriyani, Nancy had the vegetable chick pea balls in yogurt sauce. Afterwards, I went to Mom and Dad's to change out of my photosynthesis week work clothes and to pick up my copy of Kim Dozier's book and a camera.
Kim Dozier was back in Pittsburgh to deliver a lecture entitled "Breathing the Fire: Fighting to Report---and Survive---the War in Iraq." The talk was sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Honors College and I received my invitation through the Pittsburgh Wellesley Club. Nancy and I sat a row in front of Michelle L, with whom we chatted before the talk. Kim was introduced by Cindy Skrzycki of the University of Pittsburgh and of Bloomberg News. Kim's talk was more lively and less formal in tone and delivery than her acceptance speech and talk just a year ago at Carlow University. Tonight she read rarely from a reporter's stenographer-type spiral notebook during her talk, delivering it largely from memory. She spoke about how she was fortunate not to have suffered post traumatic stress disorder. Kim claimed to find her interview by Katie Couric to be difficult [from the other side of the microphone], but showed aplomb during the question-and-answer session after her lecture. During the question-and-answer session, Nancy asked her if the book's title had any more meaning for her beyond the war in Iraq.
It was a joy to meet Kim after the lecture, when I chided her for not attending reunion, and Nancy took a couple photos of us before she signed my copy of her book. Nancy and I enjoyed cookies, punch, and decaf afterwards, I brought Kim a drink of punch, and I had a chance to meet with Abby Mc from the University Honors College, another alumna. Nancy and I enjoyed the artwork reproductions in this Italian villa-style campus building.
Nancy and I walked back to our parking spot at Carnegie Mellon University, and enjoyed the walk with the steam rising from the fountain in front of the Frick Fine Arts building, as well as the steam from the steam plant behind the Carnegie Library complex. The frosty/icy bridge caused us to shuffle in small steps, and we enjoyed the cold night air on the way to her car.
Labels: art, career, Choir, dining, Faith, friends, photos, Pittsburgh, research, reunion, stars, TV, walking, water, Wellesley, work
I'm a little of each...
..but mostly, I'm a Mandarin!
I'm an intellectual, and I've worked hard to get where I am now. I'm a strong believer in education, and I think many of the world's problems could be solved if people were more informed and more rational. I have no tolerance for sloppy or lazy thinking. It frustrates me when people who are ignorant or dishonest rise to positions of power. I believe that people can make a difference in the world, and I'm determined to try.
Talent: 54%
Lifer: 26%
Mandarin: 62%
Take the
Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.
Labels: career, family, philosophical
"First" Campfire and Mountain Pie Party 2008
Last night Jen, Brian, and I drove to Houston to partake of Ken, Maggie, and Drew's First Third of July Campfire and Mountain Pie Party. Ken has been doing campfire/mountain pie parties since then-Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Maslov announced Third of July celebrations back in the day. In fact, two years ago Jen, Bri, and I attended their campfire engagement party...but this is the first one for him and Maggie and eight-month-old Drew. There was the usual fare at their new home: Hot Dawgs, S'mores, dough boys, and the ubiquitous mountain pies. Jen kindly made a chocolate/cherry one for me. The rain rain rain came down down down, and the rain rain rain came down down down....It was great to chat with Ken and Maggie, and to see Drew; since I had not seen their family since the beginning of January 2008. Drew is a big eight-month-old, in the 75 percentile, and at 22 pounds plus, he is about the length and weight of my twenty-month old niece Beatrice! He is also not a slender child, being somewhat chunky and long. As we departed, we noted that he looked so sweet slumbering in Maggie's arms.
I described the view of the fireworks to the west of I 79 as we drove past the cars pulled over on both sides of the highway. Jen appreciated the described view as we whizzed north on the wet pavement. I am thankful for my friends from CAC. When they suggested that I join the Club again, I insisted that I have become too busy with the Church....
~~~
What to do about me? Jen has decided to set me up with an acquaintance of hers. Her last attempt to set me up failed, as the other party was "afraid of getting hurt again." I told them the story of my declination of a proposal when I was younger, citing our irreconcilable difference, a difference that our friend Anjali wholeheartedly agreed was fully irreconcilable and that she agreed would elicit a denial from her, too.
Despite all this, I remain open to possibilities...I also am prepared resign myself to a life of teaching, alone, as I am fully happy and feel fulfilled as a mentor to young people in this capacity.
Labels: Beatrice, Blind, CAC, career, celebration, children, Christmas, Church, dreams, friends, list, love, outside, painting, science, transportation, weather, work
Graduate school I
I received an email missive from Sheila about what Evan is up to...he and his wife are running an artisan restaurant and a bakery in Seattle. I have recommended it to Anjali, who will be there in April.
William writes most recently of our graduate school colleagues... where are they now. The only two from the chem department whom I keep in touch with are Julie and Kim, both of whom could not remember family names of some of our colleagues/friends at the time. Julie is working as a graphic designer for a large firm that works for museums in the greater Boston area, Kim teaches chem at a community college in the South Bay. I have even gotten out of touch with Angy and Marcin, who Kim reminds me "live in a different world than we do...who have, in some ways, sacrificed much to be where they are [professors at a large, internationally competitive research university]."
I remember signing up to work with Angy as an undergraduate because I wanted to know how a young (female) assistant professor pulled it off--how she BALANCED it all.
O the (career only) sacrifices I have made--but it's made all the difference. I would not trade my life now for another position. I am immensely content with my relations to my family, neighborhood, community, and work.
Labels: biology, career, Pittsburgh, Wellesley, work
Just for Fun
I received an email from Laura, in which the point is to complete abbreviated lists. Here are mine:
4 jobs I have had in my life
1) Biology Lab Instructional Faculty, Univ of Pittsburgh
2) one of the last staff at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Science and Tech Dept.
3) NASA research fellow: Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, CA; Univ of CA, and remote locales
4) Jewish Community Center, nursery and Kindergarten aide, Pittsburgh
4 movies I would watch over and over:
1) The Lake House
2) Dead Again (the lead character is a "Grace")
3) ----
4) ----
4 places I have lived
1) by Yankee Stadium and Joyce Kilmer Park, Bronx, NY
2) in a beautiful home on a hill overlooking the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers
3) in a gothic dorm, in a room overlooking the green and the lake, Wellesley College
4) within 2 miles of the San Francisco Bay, Berkeley, CA
4 TV Shows that I watch:
1) Monk
2) Curb Your Enthusiasm
3) Keeping Up Appearances
4) Dancing with the Stars
4 Places I have been:
1) the Philippines
2) the "Continent"
3) S. Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales
4) Baja California, Mexico
4 people who e-mail me regularly
1) Mom (at least once daily, when she's not away from the computer)
2) Joyce
3) My students
4) My girlfriends--Lisa, Laura, my choirfriends, Marva, etc.
4 of my favorite foods:
1)Mom's home cooking
2) Anything I don't have to prepare
3) Thai/Filipino
4) Irish/Scottish salmon
5 places I would rather be right now:
1) At home, in bed, asleep (Just came from choir practice, Mass, and a 3-hr. mtg...boy, I'm tired).
2) In a warm bubble bath
3) Lying down, with my legs up.
4) Visiting with my family, either distant or not-so
5) In the kitchen, drinking good grape juice...
4 Things I am looking forward to:
1) tomorrow
2) and tomorrow....and tomorrow (a great Vonnegut title).
3) I agree with Laura: A Liberal in the White House
4) whatever the next thing brings!
~~~~
This email Laura sent me today reminds me of one I received on March 16th 2006: Tag, You're It! from Marissa. That email asked for fave hobbies, and I listed "exercise: Dance and swimming" as favorites. My current condition makes dance unable to be done. My, how fast things change....
~~~~
10 March 2008
I thought of a great movie to add to my "list" of two--Sliding Doors...
...and another, The Rock.
Labels: career, Carnegie, children, color, dance, health, list, love, Monk, New York, Philippines, Pittsburgh, pool, science, soils, teaching, travel, TV, Wellesley, work
Annual Tea 2007
Yesterday was the Wellesley Alumnae annual tea. We enjoyed our individually-chosen flavored teas. I enjoyed an Irish tea with two lumps of sugar per cup with ample cream. There were savory tea sandwiches, sweet tartlets, and small scones with clotted cream. Kelly, our chapter president, caught us up on the current state-of-affairs at the college with brochures. There were about a dozen of us in attendance. Kelly, Lucy, Eileen, Amy, and I discussed everything from the recent article in the Post-Gazette (December 5, 2007, Magazine section) about the La Roche dance major who is working toward a career in law enforcement to the fact that Amy had interviewed the neurosurgeon from Oliver Sack's newest book, Musicophilia. She was quite struck with how matter-of-fact he was about his situation. Kelly and I had a chance to catch up with Stephanie, whom we have missed at recent events.
Labels: career, dance, dining, music, Wellesley
Laura's Farewell Party
All of us Intro Bio instructors and the support staff joined together to present a potluck to Laura to bid her a fond farewell as she embarks on her new position in the interpretive department of a Texas state park.
We spent the rest of our time setting up for the practical exam. Pratima and I "took" the exam, and consulted with our supers. Spoke with Laura and Ellen, too.
Labels: career, celebration, seasons, work
Wellesley Alumnae Events, Fall 2007
In addition to the workshop that Folly Patterson, '86, presented for the Pittsburgh Wellesley Alumnae group, there have been other recent events with Wellesley alumnae. Namely, tonight my former classmate Kim Dozier received the 2007 Marie Torre award after delivering a lecture. Kim works as a CBS News correspondent in Baghdad. She had survived a car bomb on Memorial Day 2006 that killed her cameraman and soundman, as well as the US Army captain and his Iraqi translator whom they were following.
Marie Torre was a nationally respected broadcast journalist who first gained notoriety in 1959 by going to jail for refusing to reveal her source for a story about Judy Garland in the New York Herald-Tribune. She went on to work for KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. She won awards for her documentaries. She also appeared on the Mister Rogers show.
Marie Torre's grown children and her grandchildren were present and they showed a well-produced DVD on her life as a journalist and as a family woman/mom/grandmother. Two of her grandchildren had a chance to speak, too.
Pittsburgh councilman Bill Peduto read a city proclamation making November 3, 2007 Marie Torre Lecture Series Day, followed by Carlow University's president, Dr. Mary Hines's introduction of Kim Dozier. The introduction was followed by a video short that reported on the events in Kim's life on Memorial Day 2006. Kim also described for us what had happened that day (cf. to her comments within a year of injury).
Kim Dozier quotable quotes:
She likened US presence to "a bull in a Middle Eastern china shop that now has no idea how to pick up the pieces."
"Whether we like it or not, perception is 90% of reality."
Answering a question from a nurse in the audience: "Doctors put you back together, and nurses heal you...." Corpsmen (physician's assistants) also do a key job in healing. At Bethesda hospital her main patient advocate was a wound nurse.
How long do we view people as "the other"? "If you view your particular path as the [only] one to salvation, then there exists a gap [between you and others with differing views]."
She discussed the Fundamentalism project, which aims to link the three [Abrahamic] faiths.
About her time in hospital, as related to a family question: "I healed double-time....I was never alone. I always had a family member there"
About her feelings, particularly hate: "I really didn't hate...the man who hit us: did he lose his wife or daughter?" What brought him to set off a car bomb?
She has a deep respect for military and diplomatic corps who have spent time there, and taught her more than she already knows about the culture. There is also "an increased sensitivity to culture: One must respect the culture, or one cannot help them."
~~~
Lynne Hayes-Freeland of KDKA-TV News delivered the opening and closing remarks.
I spoke with Gina and her mom before the program, and shared ideas of the Eucharistic sacrament with her mom. A nurse sat next to me, and I spotted Roberta from the museum. I also saw Cecile, whose husband Eric gave us a ride home. After the lecture, I had a chance to meet some of Cecile's friends there, including Sr. Elizabeth McMillan, who, in her 70's has yet to retire.
Labels: career, diocese of Pittsburgh, photography, Pittsburgh, research, TV, Wellesley, work
Kelly's Got a New Job!
Kelly's got a new job as a manager of a tutoring center in NYC.
I just checked out some of the new photos from her all-female accordian band. Here is one photo album, from this year's Mermaid Fest in New York. How splendiferous! How shrimply charming are the costumes and the accordianists, too! Here is a link to the Long Island Germanfest, 2007. So, in addition to her avocation as an accordianist and to her new job, she's keeping a couple of her other gigs, too. Good for her!
Labels: career, celebration, music, teaching
